Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
Wynter
“Did you get that down?”
I was sitting across from Myles’s desk. It was Wednesday. We’d fly out Friday morning, do the whole private-jet thing, which, I couldn’t lie, I was a little excited about. Then he’d give his proposal and hopefully be less of a dick after.
“Didn’t you see me writing?” I replied, my pen poised over the tablet.
He scowled at his computer screen. Never at me. In the weeks since our kiss, he’d been avoiding me. Hard to do when I was his assistant, and he was preparing for a critical meeting to expand his company, but he managed with rigid efficiency. “We’re done for the day.”
I checked the time. It wasn’t even five. “Already?”
“I have errands to run.”
This was the first I’d heard. “Do you need me to—”
“No.”
Irritation made my blood rush between my ears. I waggled my finger at him. “Is this the guy Mainline will be getting on Friday?”
“What’s wrong with me?”
“Kind of hard to spin a sympathetic story about your past when you’re glaring and scowling and looking like you want to rip everyone apart.”
“I don’t want to share my story, but you convinced me it was necessary.”
“I told you my opinion. You made the call. Own your decisions.” Another quote straight from Daddy. Usually, he’d been yelling at me or my siblings when we’d fucked up as kids, but the sentiment worked on Myles nonetheless.
He stiffened. “I am owning it. I don’t have to like it.”
I sighed and coaxed myself into relaxing.
I should respect that he didn’t want to lose control and fall all over his assistant.
He was in a tough spot, and of all people, I should understand.
Recounting some of what had happened to him and using his history for sales wasn’t comfortable for him.
With the way he was behaving, the idea was hurting him, but he’d do anything for his company.
I didn’t like sharing the story of my birth parents either.
Luckily, most people I came across in Bourbon Canyon already knew the tragic story of the Kerrigan sisters.
But I’d learned new details behind their death after I’d gotten older, and the information was personal.
It was no one’s business. I had to set aside my ego.
“Do you want me to take a look at what you have?”
He blanched. “God no.” He slid his gaze to look out the window. “It’s bad enough you have to be there.”
Ouch. Remove my ego, remove my ego. “Okayyy. Why didn’t you postpone the meeting until Mrs. Crane got back? You’d be more comfortable around her.” But she might not have troubleshot the way his pitch was falling short.
“You don’t ask a national wholesaler to hold on when they’re considering millions of dollars in contracts with you.”
His snide tone was one I hadn’t heard from him before. Embarrassment curled around my neck and cinched tighter until it was hard to breathe. I didn’t like when he blew me off.
Since he was curt and short-tempered, and had ordered the most obnoxiously healthy foods for lunch all week, I should take him up on his declaration that the workday was done. I could grab a beer and a burger and grumble to myself about how kissing me wasn’t life-changing for him.
Knowing what his lips felt like now was changing mine.
I had a hard time falling asleep without having a little one-on-one with my toys.
I woke up thinking about what it had felt like being locked between him and the window.
And much of my day was spent pondering who was behind that ringtone and why they unsettled Myles so badly.
The tone played through the room. I blinked. Had I summoned the caller?
“Fuck,” he said under his breath. He stared at the device that was facedown on his desk.
If he’d looked irritated before, his face was a mask of fury now. If a girlfriend no one knew about was calling, that was one toxic relationship. But Myles had said he didn’t do relationships. So who was it?
“I’ll see you in the morning.” I picked up my tote and deposited the tablet inside.
He flicked his gaze toward me. “You’re leaving?”
“I’d rather not be around for the”—I wiggled my finger at him again—“pleasing disposition you get after those calls. Have a good night.”
I left him at his desk, phone still ringing.
In the parking lot, I ran through ideas of where I could have a burger and beer and still get home without having to drive. I didn’t have gal pals to navigate the city with and watch each other’s back.
I’d settle with picking up a six-pack, sticking a mug in a freezer, and pretending a bottle of beer in a frosty mug tasted as good as draft.
Then I’d order in. In the morning, I’d be back to work.
Dealing with uptight Myles was best when I was fully rested.
Forgetting the sweltering kiss was easier when I wasn’t in the same room as him.
Before I got in my car, I glanced up at the window.
Heat licked my skin like he was watching me, but I’d never be able to tell with those damn windows.
The building reflected him in that way. People could only see in where he wanted them to, and the interior was apportioned according to function.
The really interesting stuff he walled off from everyone.
On the way to town, Summer called. I answered with “Hey. I didn’t see any texts from you.”
The second of silence was enough to tell me there’d been no missed messages. Tears poked the backs of my eyes. Was this it? The call I’d been dreading?
“He’s in the hospital in Bozeman,” she said. I nodded even though she couldn’t see me. “He, um, will probably fight tooth and nail to go home, and—” A sob cut her off.
Daddy wanted to be at home when he died. “Thanks for calling and telling me.”
“Aren’t you going to come home?”
“I told you I wasn’t,” I said, unable to keep from being defensive.
“I just thought…” Her sigh was loud. “I thought you’d want to be there when the time finally came.”
I couldn’t. I couldn’t handle it. “He understands. I wish you would.”
“No, I do…”
There was something in her tone that made the hair on the back of my neck stick up. “You do. Who doesn’t?”
“The guys don’t get it, but I told them why. They’re trying. You and Junie aren’t home. Autumn is, but I don’t see her as much as I’d like. Boyd’s been working a lot, so it’s just been hard, you know.”
Why couldn’t her boyfriend be there when she needed him?
I wasn’t Boyd’s biggest fan, and he wasn’t the most enthused about small towns and big families, but Summer was into him.
I didn’t know why. She needed someone to lean on.
She was always trying to save us from ourselves, and she shouldn’t have to.
But she had Boyd, and I had memories that drove me away. I needed to take care of myself, and it hurt that my brothers didn’t understand. “You told them I already watched two parents die and can’t bear to witness another?”
“Don’t be pissed at me. They don’t know what it’s like, and this is different.”
I sighed. “I’m sorry. You’re left dealing with a lot.” She wasn’t at fault, and being the oldest, they often got on her about her younger sisters’ behavior. Neither of us should have to explain to our brothers I wasn’t being a coldhearted brat. “Is that why Tate hasn’t checked in?”
“Tate’s not the one with the issue. He’s busy with a wife and kids and taking over for Daddy while making sure Daddy doesn’t drag Mama through hell during his last days of being stubborn. You know how sensitive Tenor is.” And Teller could get lost in his head and forget others had emotions.
“Thanks for sticking up for me.”
“If I didn’t, Mama would ream their asses.”
My sad chuckle matched hers. “Take care of yourself. How are Autumn and Junie?”
“Junie’s not home yet, but she should be any day. Oh—the doctor’s going into Daddy’s room. Gotta go—love you, bye.” She disconnected.
“Call Junie,” I said to my Bluetooth.
I wasn’t surprised when she picked up. We were all dreading the call. “Where are you?”
“I have a layover in Denver.” Her voice came through small and sad. “I missed my flight.”
“Intentionally?” My sister was big into self-sabotage. She could handle her anxiety and get up on stage, but only if she could get past it to get on the plane in the first place.
“Maybe.” She sniffled.
A flight from Denver to Bozeman was short, and flights were constantly leaving from Denver. “I’ll pick you up. What airline?”
“Thanks, Wynter.”
“Hey, we all have our thing.” When she returned home, she could explain herself to our brothers. She just needed to be weak tonight. And I’d appreciate not being alone.
The only person I was close to in Denver was Myles, and it wasn’t like I could go to him for support.
Junie curled up on the couch with a glass of wine. She was the anti-bourbon girl. Like the rest of us, she could recite the taste profile of any bourbon without looking at the label, but everyone expected her to drink it. Therefore, she didn’t touch it.
Her light brown hair had blond and pink highlights. The way she had the strands swirled and bound at the top of her head made her look like she had a snow-cone hat.
When I’d picked her up, she’d had on big sunglasses and a floppy hat. I’d teased her about going incognito, and she’d only rolled her eyes, claiming she wasn’t famous enough for that yet.
She would be. June Bee was making a name for herself, slowly but surely, thanks to the work ethic our parents had instilled in us. Both sets.
“I don’t want to go home,” she said before she took a swig that drained half her glass.
“Nashville’s going well, then?”
“Um…define well.” She polished the rest of her wine off. “It’s a pretty town, but you have to fit their cookie-cutter image and have their cookie-cutter sound. Lord knows they love their blond country singers, but they don’t want my songs, and I don’t want anyone else’s.”
A few more highlights, and she could be the blond bombshell country artist with a perky smile and a kill-your-abusive-husband attitude. But she was too sweet. A little timid. Tough as nails, but sensitive as hell.
“So Nashville sucks?” I asked.
She wrinkled her nose and set her glass down. “It’s fine. I’m just having an existential crisis, and I shouldn’t be figuring a damn thing out when Daddy’s dying.”
My heart constricted. He was dying. I would get the call soon. “I’m glad you’re going home.”
She gave me a sympathetic smile. “Don’t let Tenor and Teller get to you. They don’t have to understand, they just have to respect your decision.”
I nodded, almost wishing I was flying out with her. But the lingering terror from my bio parents’ crash stayed with me, constricting my throat, and the closer I got to their place of death, the worse it’d be.
I’d almost suffocated the last time I was home, which was how I’d ended up in Denver.
“Enough about depressing shit. It’ll catch up to us soon enough.” She scooted around on the couch until she was facing me on the other end. “Summer said you have a hot boss?”
“He’s so hot.”
She grabbed her phone. “Tell me about him. Where do you work? I want to see a picture.”
“Junie!” Panic sent my pulse soaring. She wanted to look him up. “Don’t be nosy.”
She gave me an appraising look. Her eyes were darker brown than mine, and sometimes I couldn’t tell what she was thinking. “You like him.”
“I…” I scowled at her and took a sip of my rosé. Better than the merlot from the night Myles had fired me but still not what I’d like to drink. One day, I’d quit buying wine and drink bourbon like a proper Bailey. “He’s intense.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“And he’s my boss. I want to keep the lines clear.” And I wanted to keep his identity a secret from my siblings. Junie never talked about Myles much. She was too busy trying to forget Bourbon Canyon as thoroughly as Myles had.
“Do you, though?”
Damn her. “His real assistant will return in a little over a month, and I’ll be looking for a job.”
“Under him?” She snickered.
“Stop it.” I tossed a throw pillow at her, and she batted it away.
“Seriously, though. Are you going to work at Copper Summit?”
“Yes. Once everything’s settled.”
She nodded. Cool relief that she knew exactly what I meant washed over me. Could also be the wine.
“Just don’t move to Denver full-time,” she said. “I like having all my siblings safe in one place while I travel the world.”
She got the worst anxiety traveling, so I doubted that was true. “You mean you don’t want to travel more to visit me on top of them?”
She stuck her tongue out.
“Uh, so immature.” I suppressed a smile.
“We all have our things, okay?”
Didn’t I know it. “I was working late one night, and it started storming. I slept on the office couch.”
“How’d you hide that from the boss hottie?”
“He suggested it.” I couldn’t get into specifics. “He keeps a loft where he works because of his hours.”
“Like a booty hut?”
“He’s not banging anyone he works with.”
“Sure.”
“June.”
She rolled her eyes. “All the big shots are banging any young impressionable thing they can.”
I mulled that over. Myles wasn’t like that. I’d seen no indication of an active sex life. I wasn’t being defensive just because. But there was more to what she’d said than she was telling me. “Is there something you want to talk about?”
“Nope.” She got up to pour herself more wine. “Don’t worry, I won’t overindulge. There’s nothing worse than flying hungover.”
“Pour me another, then.”
She topped off my glass. “You’re keeping this guy to yourself, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” I admitted, grateful she’d read through me, and I didn’t have to lie by omission again.
“You’ll understand once I tell you, but for now, I need to keep him to myself.
” I took a sip and let the woodsy grape flavors play over my tongue.
A hint of smoky lilac and vanilla. A little reminiscent of the Foster Garden line. “I talked to Daddy about him, though.”
Her smile was sad. “And he was as chill as ever.”
“As ever,” I agreed.
“I’m going to miss him.” She drew in a shaky breath.
“Yeah. Me, too.”
She lifted her glass and inspected the color. “Maybe I can fly a little hungover.”